“We aborted when they killed Janey.” Callum was almost scared to ask, but he pushed the question out. “Can you save her?”
Rico stared at him for long moments. Then he nodded. “But I won’t do it unless she asks. I’ve offered in the past and she didn’t want it.”
“She’ll want it.” Callum prayed he was telling the truth.
“And I need to feed. I’m too weak right now.”
“Let’s get out of here first. You can feed in the speeder on the way back to the ship.”
“El Cazador is here?”
“Not exactly. We’ll explain on the way.”
Devlin peered in through the open cell door. He glanced at Rico. “Nice to see you back from the dead, but we have to move. We’ll have company any second now,”
Skylar raised her pistol, aimed it at the shackles that held Rico to the wall. “This might sting a little.”
“Darling, I don’t really care. Do it.”
Skylar blasted the chains close to the wall, even so, Rico winced, and the stench of scorched flesh filled the room.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
“Don’t be.” Rico grabbed her around the waist and kissed her hard. “Let’s get the fuck out of this shithole. Hey, have I mentioned how much I hate the Church?”
“Not recently. But feel free. I don’t think anyone here will argue with you.”
They left the cell and headed back the way they had come, the two wolves stalking at the front, Skylar and Rico in the middle, Callum and Devlin at the rear. They were almost to the door into the rear courtyard when a noise behind them made Callum whirl around.
A small group of men appeared around the corner, weapons in their hands. Callum heard a growl behind him and the two wolves burst past them, leaping at the first two guards before they had a chance to pull their triggers. The first died quickly, the huge black wolf ripping out the throat. The second was messier. He reckoned it was Alex’s first kill as a wolf, but she got there in the end. Callum and Devlin took out the second two and he stood staring at the bodies. He couldn’t dispel the notion that time was running out for Tannis. They needed out of there. Now.
A second group appeared but backed away when they saw the carnage.
“That was Hatcher,” Devlin said.
He made to follow, but Callum stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Devlin, we have to get back.”
“No, we have to get the murdering bastard who killed Tris.”
“Tannis is dying. Rico can save her, but every second might make a difference.”
Devlin’s gaze shifted from Callum to the vampire. “You’re going to change her?”
Rico nodded.
Devlin stared after Hatcher, and then he gritted his teeth and nodded. “Let’s go.”
“Thank you. And I promise you, we will return, and one day he will pay for Janey and for Tris.”
…
The faint vibration of the ship’s engines roused Tannis from a light sleep. They must be back. Either that or something had gone badly wrong and they were leaving without them. She rubbed her forehead, the headache had dulled to a throb, but she felt spaced out and not with it.
She had to hold on. She wanted to know they’d succeeded, and she wanted to see Callum one last time.
But when the door opened, it wasn’t Callum standing there. For a second, she couldn’t make her head process what she was seeing. Was she hallucinating? No, she couldn’t be. If she had conjured up an image, then she was sure Rico wouldn’t have looked quite so bad. His bare chest was crisscrossed with a multiple cuts and burns.
Which meant he was real.
She swallowed and blinked. No way was she going to break down like some idiot. But, oh God, he was alive.
“You look like shit,” she said.
Rico grinned. “Yeah, and you look so much better.”
Tannis ignored the sarcasm. “I missed you.”
“Of course you did. That’s why you’re lying in bed instead of out there rescuing me.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I’ve been dead for a long time, sweetheart.” He moved into the room and stood looking down at her. “You made a right crappy mess of this, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
Callum appeared and strode across the room, relief lighting his face as he saw her. He perched on the edge of the bed and grabbed her hand.
“You want this?” He glanced from Rico to her.
She followed his gaze and knew what he was asking. She studied the vampire, knowing he could save her and she would live forever.
But this would be the easy way out.
And she had never followed the easy way. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have fallen in love with a man like Callum.
She wanted her dream.
The hope she’d hidden deep in her mind since they’d left Trakis Seven rose to the surface and crystalized into something hard and tangible.
Taking a deep breath, she looked back at Callum and shook her head. “No.”
For a second, shock flashed across his face, then understanding. And she knew that he’d harbored the same hope.
“I want my dream,” she said.